Deadpool 2 review: Can snarky superhero ever meet expectations?

THE expectations for Deadpool 2 are out of this world. So could it possibly be as good as the first? Here is the verdict.

THE very thing that propelled the first Deadpool movie to atmospheric heights and box office records is the same thing that the sequel has to overcome: Expectations.

Not knowing that you were in for a crazy, snarky two-hour ride is what made the original film such a fresh and surprising delight. The follow-up was always going to have a harder time if it didn’t surpass the bonkers level of wisecracking smartarsery the franchise now represents, plus the posters promised it would “feel bigger”.

On that front, Deadpool 2 mostly sticks the landing. It’s the same irreverent, madcap and self-referential superhero we want to pay to see — please, Fox and Marvel, take our money.

Its profane energy belts you right from the start when Deadpool appears in close-up, sucking down on a durry and blowing the smoke right back at the audience — smoking is a massive screen no-no, especially from someone who’s supposed to be the hero, no matter how anti he thinks he is.

Say anything you want, but there’s something so irresistible about Deadpool.

The story in the sequel is stronger with a less generic narrative (though some of the motivating factors are still very been-there-done-that). When Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is moved to help Russell (Kiwi actor Julian Dennison), a young mutant with serious anger management issues and flaming fists, he tries to assemble his own team of superheroes to take on the time-travelling Cable (Josh Brolin).

Also among the newcomers is Domino (Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz), whose superpower is being lucky — which means it’s like she’s constantly walking through a giant Rube Goldberg machine, which is a lot of visual fun.

Dennison was an absolute scene-stealer in Hunt for the Wilderpeople and his pairing with Reynolds is inspired. The two have amazing screen chemistry, all the more obvious when his character is less effective when they’re not riffing together.

Minions have gotten a makeover.

Reynolds is a credited writer on the screenplay alongside Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (the latter two wrote the first film) and maybe that’s why the whipfast dialogue feels even more natural and suited to the Canadian star’s kind-of-smarmy cadence.

Word of warning for the sensitive soul: Deadpool 2’s scale of violence is intense — there’s all manner of decapitations, impalings, gunshot wounds, dismemberments, disfigured bodies and rivers of gushing blood.

Director David Leitch spent most of his career as a stunt co-ordinator and the action sequences really benefit from his skill for a well-composed fight. He brings the same flair for action here as he did for his solo directorial debut, the stylish and energetic Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron.

The music cues are on point, filling out its soundtrack with the likes of Air Supply, Pat Benatar, Dolly Parton and A-Ha, while an Enya ditty comes on at exactly the right time — none of which is surprising when you realise Guardians of the Galaxy’s Tyler Bates is the man behind the selection.

Lady luck.

It wouldn’t be Deadpool without the fourth-wall breaking, pop cultural references pummelling you like a 50-megaton bomb — it’s overwhelming and unescapable. Whether it’s Wolverine’s demise in Logan, Josh Brolin moonlighting as Avengers villain Thanos or slapping down Jared Kushner, it comes so fast you almost can’t keep up.

There are some golden blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos and do stay on for the beginning of the credits because Deadpool 2 saves its best meta gag for last.

At times it gets a bit too much, and makes you acutely aware of how self-conscious the movie is at trying to poke fun of itself and its context. It takes almost half an hour for it to confidently settle into a natural rhythm and allow all that “effort” to feel less laboured.

I’m not convinced the filmmakers got the balance quite right but the story is more cohesive than the first and somewhere amid all the mocking and the 37th pastiche might just be an original voice. Or, at least an original voice 2.0. It is a sequel after all.

Rating: ★★★★

Deadpool 2 is in cinemas now.

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